Berwick Parksville resident Chris Neeter shares what it was like to get together with a bunch of theatre-curious friends and discover the magic of live performance.
Moving into Berwick Parksville on July 6th in 2022, one of the amenities that was so appealing was having our own theatre and stage, as live theatre has long been a major interest in my life.
In the fall last year, our manager of Active Living set up a drama club, with Denene from Qualicum Beach Active Living leading our sessions. At the start, we were not sure if we would give any performances, thus taking the pressure off our group. Some had acted before, some had taught drama and some were just interested. Denene’s experience, both with Berwick Qualicum Beach and prior, made her the perfect leader for this disparate group.
Denene got us out of our discomfort, sometimes more easily than others, by introducing improvisation. The sound of that word is quite daunting to many, including us, but she quickly had us laughing at each other and ourselves, and our little group became a cohesive one and the sessions were great fun.
Pleased at our progress, Denene suggested a presentation, as a “staged reading” so that our scripts would be handy if needed. The script she chose was a very funny one for seniors, called Bingo Ladies Gone Bad. The synopsis featured the Perfect Petunias Gardening Club meeting for their annual luncheon and bingo game. Our group of eight was ideal for this play, featuring two groups with different ideas, leading to great hijinks! Anyone who has ever played bingo would definitely relate to some of the lines. After much discussion, we named ourselves Berwick Parksville Players.
Once the play was cast, we had weekly rehearsals with Denene. Three weeks before the presentation, we decided amongst ourselves that we needed more rehearsals, and we put other plans aside to rehearse twice a week. The last one before our debut was a dress rehearsal. What fun it was to see us all dressed as our characters for the show!
On Monday, December 18th, we made our presentation to residents, family and friends. It was both encouraging and a little scary to see so many in the audience. There were lots of laughs and in the right places (even better), with great feedback afterwards. A huge thanks to Denene for all her work with us and to Jeannine here in Parksville for putting this on our calendar. Then we were “on the road” to Berwick Qualicum Beach to perform a week later. It too was well received with positive feedback.
Now, we are rehearsing for our next production, called Dangerous Games, on June 10th . Once again, we will be “on the road” to perform in Qualicum Beach. This too, is a staged reading, which encourages new members who might otherwise be deterred. After our first presentation, it was great to see two new members join the Berwick Parksville Players.